Don Xml's Grok This

Disclaimer: I do not work for Microsoft, but I am a Microsoft MVP.  The following is all derived from public information, and any inferences or extrapolations are entirely the work of my imagination, and is not something that I know that Microsoft is working on.  If I knew Microsoft was working on things like this, it would be covered ...

Well, well, well, Pablo Fernicola finally has a blog.  Pablo is a Group Program Manager for the Windows Presentation Foundation (formerly called Avalon).  He will be presentation the following session at the PDC: PRS309 - Windows Presentation Foundation (''Avalon''): Overview of Windows Vista Graphics September 14, 1:45 PM - 3:00 ...

First off, I really, really wanted to love Microsoft’s latest graphics tool, codename Acrylic.  I down loaded and install the first public beta, and wasn’t impressed, but hey, it’s an early view into what they are doing, so I decided to cut them some slack (it is based on Creature House Expression, which MSFT bought in 2003).  I ...

TechEd 2005 is over, and now is the time to start thinking about PDC05, which will be held in Los Angeles, September 13th-16th.  The PDC has been in the same location the last 2 times (2001 and 2003), and my favorite hotel is the Wilshire Grand.  In 2003 the Wilshire was the place to stay, and I can’t find a reason to switch ...

I’ve been bugging Miguel to post the details on his self built USB 2.0 powered 7200 rpm drive.  This is a must for anyone using VPC (and if you are not using VPC, you should be).  You can’t beat the price, $200 for the drive, and $20 for the case.  This is a perfect setup for presenting at Code Camps and you local user ...

Chris Sells mentions that MS has 25 SDE positions with the keyword “Avalon” advertised on their public job listings.  Now, since I’m always interested in things Avalon related, I decide to search the complete job posts, and not just for SDE positions.  What did I find but at total of 37 positions, of which one is for a ...

Well you got to feel sorry for those that can’t accept that a love one is dying.  No matter how much voodoo they try, they are not going to revive the body.  COM was fundamentally flawed and Don Box published an article on that topic in MSDN Mag back in Dec. of 2000 and his final paragraph says it all: So, Is COM Dead?As this ...

It looks like I know where I’ll be Sept. 10 thru 17, 2005, in Los Angeles, CA at the next Microsoft PDC (hat tip to Jeff Julian).  PDCs are not like regular technical conferences, they only come along when Microsoft has a new technology to debut.  PDC 2000 was the unveiling of .Net, PDC 2001 was the WebServices (aka MyServices) ...

Disclaimer: My name is Don Demsak, and I’m not a Microsoft employee.  I am an independent consultant and a Microsoft MVP in the area of XML.  Any information on a Microsoft technology contained in this post is publicly available and not covered under a NDA or obtained via internal Microsoft sources.  I do not speak for ...

eWeek Senior Writer, Darryl Taft contacted me last week and asked about how I’d feel if Microsoft dropped Avalon from the Longhorn release, and then put some of my comments in this article.  He mentioned that he had a quote from a Microsoft exec inferring that it may happen, but I didn’t realize that it was a quote from Soma ...